No FTL in Science Fiction

[Kitsune]

This is specifically about a specific type of show here. . . .

I am referring to science fiction shows that travel vast interstellar distances without FTL.
By their plot, they should have FTL but they do not seem to.

The old Battlestar Galactica (although the novels fix that) and Farscape (at least as far as I have watched it) are examples of this.

What are your thoughts when watching those shows? Do you give them a pass?

[Batman]

How, exactly, are oBSG or Farscape without FTL?

[Tony Stark]

FTL is explicitly mentioned and shown in pretty much every Farscape Episode.

[gigabytelord]

FTL is explicitly mentioned and shown in pretty much every Farscape Episode.

For Moya? Yes, for everyone else? No, in fact I don't recall ever hearing anything about how the peacekeepers travel interstellar distances. At least we know leviathans use a form of FTL called starburst. Does anyone remember hearing what the PKs called theirs?

[bilateralrope]

I don't think they made any distinction between their FTL and their sublight engines.

[Kitsune]

Using Farscape and Moya, the very first episode she starbursts away. Her ability to starburst was then disabled until she could more of that magic fluid. The problem is unless she is within light minutes of the planet to get more, she is not going to travel in any reasonable time frame.

[Lost Soal]

Farscape FTL is called Hetch drive. When they get back to Earth and the scientists are looking over the drive Crichton specifically tells them its FTL travel, he just has no idea how it works.

[Kitsune]

I have only watched part of the first season of Farscape. . . .
Generally it looks like a good series just have not gotten a chance to sit down and watch it.

If I am wrong, I am simply wrong though.
In that case though there is still old Battlestar Galactica where there is no FTL which would cover huge amounts of distance quickly (although they mention the Battlestars going past light speed)

[Elheru Aran]

IIRC vaguely old-BSG had an instanteous FTL jump drive. This is based upon a novelization from the 70s, mind you, so I'm probably way off.

[Kitsune]

IIRC vaguely old-BSG had an instanteous FTL jump drive. This is based upon a novelization from the 70s, mind you, so I'm probably way off.

Yes, the books did but the shows showed nothing in the form of FTL

[Batman]

They moved from one star system to another. Repeatedly. They either spent eons doing that (ah, yeah, no-the protagonists are still around towards the end of the series), used fractional c travel and relativistic effects to do it (which is not only never mentioned but flies in the face of them always being able to come to relative rest WRT a system's planets (you're not sending to or recovering from local planets parasite craft if you're zooming by them at 99PSL) or live in a galaxy/a region of the galaxy with a ridiculously high star density (which the outside visuals say they don't.)
Not mentioning FTL does not equal them not having FTL.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Plus the fact that we see Galactica travel at lightspeed, Pegasus is mentioned as doing the same to catch the Cylons in an ambush, Vipers are mentioned approaching at "just sub-light speed." If they've got engines that can move a Star-Destroyer sized warship at lightspeed they have some pretty sweet engine technology. So assuming they have no FTL tech because it isn't mentioned is bollocks.

I'm also pretty sure they have FTL-comms too, since Galactica monitors a peaceful civilian broadcast (who are expecting to receive real-time footage of the peace conference) while they're expecting a Cylon assault, and do in fact see the assault begin, and no one says "oh this is actually happenning x minutes ago." Since they were a long way off at the Peace Conference that's some kind of FTL comms.

[Kitsune]

Let me try this a different way. Ships seemed to travel interstellar distances as well as being able to communicate over said distances. My thoughts are that the writers did not really understand the distances involved.

There was also suggested that ships could travel at light speed in spite of the fact that it would take infinite energy to do so.
In the dialog, the Pegasus also burned half of her fuel (Dialog around 43:00 of Living Legend Pt 1) to reach light speed.
Still, at the speed of light it takes years to travel from one star to another.

Both the writers of Star Wars and Star Trek (in that time frame or before) realized this problem and used either hyperspace or warp drive as a plot device to be able to rapidly travel interstellar distances. This is also why the Battlestar Galactica novel writers have the universe Hyderdrive as well.

[Batman]

Let me try this a different way. Ships seemed to travel interstellar distances as well as being able to communicate over said distances. My thoughts are that the writers did not really understand the distances involved.

I doubt anybody on this board would disagree this is a) the case and be b) a 'no kidding'.

In the dialog, the Pegasus also burned half of her fuel (Dialog around 43:00 of Living Legend Pt 1) to reach light speed.
Still, at the speed of light it takes years to travel from one star to another.

Which was sort of my point?

Both the writers of Star Wars and Star Trek (in that time frame or before) realized this problem and used either hyperspace or warp drive as a plot device to be able to rapidly travel interstellar distances. This is also why the Battlestar Galactica novel writers have the universe Hyderdrive as well.

I absolutely don't hate to tell you but just because the makers of a TV series refuse to repeatedly hit you over the head with the mechanics of their series' FTL drive doesn't mean their ships don't have FTL capacity.

[Kitsune]

We are talking about humans writing. . . .
You have a choice here -
1. There is some kind of FTL fast enough to travel between systems that the writers imagine but never put in their story
2. The writers did not understand the distances involved.
I strongly think it is number 2 not number 1
My argument is about you deal with that fact.
I can enjoy Battlestar Galactica but I do kind of twinge a bit here and there.

[Ziggy Stardust]

What the fuck is the point of arguing about the writer's ignorance/intention? As Batman laid out, the events as depicted imply regular FTL travel. Ergo, from an in-universe perspective, there is FTL. Whether or not the writers knew, cared, or made up technobabble is irrelevant to that argument. Talking about whether or not the writers knew what they were doing and talking about whether or not Sci-Fi Universe X has FTL travel are very different things. You can't ignore observed events with unsupported speculation about what the writers did or did not know at the time. I might as well just say that I think the writers of BSG were intending the series to have a Shyamalan-twist where the whole thing was Lt. Boomer's dream while he recovered from food poisoning, and so Cylons don't exist in that universe. It's just as unsubstantiated and unhelpful as what you are saying.

[Kitsune]

Of course you can go "whatever, I don't care"
In such a case, why are you even bothering to comment.
Maybe some of use actually want to think about these things

[fgalkin]

All these posts and no one mentioned Firefly yet? For shame....

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Elheru Aran]

All these posts and no one mentioned Firefly yet? For shame....

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Firefly is a weird one, though, given that supposedly all its inhabitable planets are within the same solar system, which has multiple stars for some odd reason. There's no *need* for FTL within that system; simply accelerating at 1 g for long enough and then decelerating at the same speed would be sufficient. Though that brings up issues with how the ships are designed with the decks not being perpendicular to the line of motion, but that's another discussion...

Anyway, Firefly doesn't necessarily apply as the OP specifies interstellar, and that's not quite Firefly.

[Batman]

Artificial gravity. D'uh. Notice how they don't go weightless whenever they shut down the drive? And multistar systems are actually pretty common in the real world. What's odd about the Firefly system is the surprisingly large number of celestial bodies orbiting the stars/one of the stars in the habitable zone.

[biostem]

Look at any show that takes place in a fairly modern setting - they hardly, if ever, go into detail about how fast they traveled to cross the globe. They don't explain that they used a jet turbine aircraft that can accelerate to 600 MPH, or how they had to engage breaking flaps to decelerate.

If a show *obviously* is traveling interstellar distances in only a few days/weeks/months, then by necessity they must have FTL. Just because some shows focus on the means of those kinds of travel times does not mean others don't have it because they never bring it up.

[fgalkin]

All these posts and no one mentioned Firefly yet? For shame....

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Firefly is a weird one, though, given that supposedly all its inhabitable planets are within the same solar system, which has multiple stars for some odd reason. There's no *need* for FTL within that system; simply accelerating at 1 g for long enough and then decelerating at the same speed would be sufficient. Though that brings up issues with how the ships are designed with the decks not being perpendicular to the line of motion, but that's another discussion...

Anyway, Firefly doesn't necessarily apply as the OP specifies interstellar, and that's not quite Firefly.

Last I checked, Firefly doesn't take place in the Solar system. So, it definitely qualifies as "interstellar"

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Batman]

'Interstellar' means travel from one star system to another. The move from Earth That Was to wherever Firefly takes place likely was interstellar (because I'm reasonably certain we'd have noticed this many additional planets hanging around our solar system by now), but the series itself never mentions them going to another star system afterwards. So while you are correct the premise of Firefly requires interstellar travel, none of it seems to happen during the series or in 'Serenity'.

[Document]

If you're looking for actual examples: the beginning of the original Transformers series has the Autobots flying from Cybertron to Earth in what seems to be one continuous sequence.

[Zaune]

Last I checked, Firefly doesn't take place in the Solar system. So, it definitely qualifies as "interstellar"

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Well, kind of. The action still all takes place within one solar system, albeit a very complicated one if you take the RPG as canon.